July 26, 2022 - Smoke from the Oak Fire, Mariposa County, California
California Fires
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On July 22, 2022, a spark in tinder-dry vegetation near the town of
Midpines, California ignited into an explosive blaze that has seared
through grass, brush, and timber to become—in just three days—the
largest fire in the state this year. On the evening of July 25, CALFIRE
reported that the fire had burned 17,241 acres and had reached 16
percent containment. The fire also destroyed 21 single resident
structures and 34 outbuildings. Midpines is a town of about 1,200
residents in Mariposa County, a Central California county in the Sierra
Nevada foothills.
After initial explosive growth, with embers traveling more than a
half-mile, CALFIRE summarized firefighting efforts on July 25 as
“successful”, with minimal additional growth of the fire. Helicopters
dropped 300,000 gallons of water on the fire on that day, and crews
continued to construct fire lines to help control growth. The fire is
reported to be moving towards the northeast, with spread slowed
primarily to the eastern side of the fire. More than 2,400 structures
are still considered at risk, and evacuation orders are in place in
rural and residential locations in the path of the blaze. Thanks to
firefighting efforts, some evacuation orders were changed to
advisements, which are not mandatory.
On July 24, 2022, the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer
(MODIS) on board NASA’s Aqua satellite acquired a true-color image of
the Oak Fire as smoke poured from the blaze. The dense smoke stretched
more than 245 miles (394 km) northward over the Sierra Nevada
Mountains, nearly reaching Mount Shasta in Northern California. A large
red “hot spot” marks actively burning fire.
Only 12 miles east of the Oak Fire, another difficult fire ignited on
July 7. Known as the Washburn Fire, the blaze had threatened the
Mariposa Grove of giant sequoias. The Washburn Fire had burnt 4,866
acres but, after aggressive firefighting, reached 87 percent
containment on July 25. At that time, fire activity was low enough that
fire crews focused on “mopping up” activities. According to InciWeb,
mopping up occurs as firefighters seek out the remaining portions of
heat near the control lines and extinguish them. This operation is
critical to ensure all control lines are secure before firefighters are
extracted by helicopter from the more remote portions of the fire.
While smoke from the Washburn fire undoubtedly mingles with the heavier
plume created by the Oak Fire, the contribution seems to be small.
There is also no visible hot spot to mark the location of the Washburn
Fire, suggesting that most fire activity has been quenched.
Image Facts
Satellite: Aqua
Date Acquired: 7/24/2022
Resolutions: 1km (373.1 KB), 500m (368.6 KB), 250m (1.1 MB)
Bands Used: 1,4,3
Image Credit: MODIS Land Rapid Response Team, NASA GSFC
https://modis.gsfc.nasa.gov/gallery/individual.php?db_date=2022-07-26
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